in the shade
by crimesurge
Summary: (AU) Mafuyu is invited to the student council right off the bat, and inevitably joins before Takaomi can tell her about the school's situation.


I've had this first part written out for awhile. I feel like it's going to lose its effect since I'm posting this in two parts, instead of a oneshot like it was originally, but take it how you want to.

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 **in the shade**

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Mafuyu wakes up to see bright eyes staring straight into her own.

She jumps up, wiping drool from her chin, and stutters out a quick string of untellable apologies to her superior, Student Council President, Hanabusa Miyabi.

It's sunset in the Student Council's meeting room, and it seems that she accidentally fell asleep during the last discussion. For a couple hours, at that.

"Not a problem, Mafuyu," He laughs, brushing a stray lock of her hair out of her eyes. "You seemed tired lately, so I won't get onto you about sleeping during meetings."

Still, she slides back, away from him, still not used to his friendliness. "I'm still sorry, Hanabusa-senpai." His touch is not unwelcomed, but it doesn't quite feel harmless. Mafuyu isn't the type to always be this weary of people, but the President seemed to always _lie_ ,something she'd thought about on more than one occasion.

"Miyabi is my name, I thought I told you to call me by it," he says playfully.

She has been a member of the Student Council, not quite a public officer, but something like a lackey, for nearly three months now. Oddly enough, even now she finds that she isn't ready to be close to the President. Mafuyu isn't as much of an open person as she was back at home, and the fact that this school cannot find out who she used to be; she can't stand out like before.

"I'm sorry, Hanabusa-senpai," she tries to play it off, wanting the tension to dissipate, "I don't think that I'm ready to call you by your given name yet..."

His eyes like to glimmer when he has something up his sleeve, she's noticed. It makes her uneasy.

"Strange enough, didn't you used to call your underlings by given name, and the same they would do for you? Mafuyu-banchou?"

"Please don't bring that up..." she grits her teeth, holding her tongue back, "I understand where I stand."

He holds an end of her light brown hair between two fingers, now long enough to reach her collar. Miyabi smiles, not quite looking at her, "Can you fulfill my request?"

She doesn't say that she feels like she is the only one in the council that is played with and treated like this, because he makes her too nervous to even mention it, "Yes, Miyabi-senpai."

Tiptoeing around any conflict, and never knowing how the President would react, she refrains from crossing any sort of "line." She imagines scenarios a lot, and he is like Peter Pan to her, but sometimes he's like a king (queen?) that could off her head whenever he pleases.

He pats her head, like she is his pet, performing for him the way he intended her to. She can't get used to those seemingly warm smiles and his clear eyes, he's too bright for her and too pure white somehow. She doesn't want to look at him for too long, either.

Mafuyu ends up letting him have his way like a spoiled child, so she can be out of his sight quicker and sooner.

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The only person in the Student Council who she honestly feels is her friend, whose company she enjoys, is Ayabe Reito.

Mafuyu feels like she trusts him, even to know her secret, and he trusts her enough for his secret. They fit together well as a pair of people. With something kept from others, a disdain of the Student Council, but forced to stay; He is her only escape from her current persona, and the President.

She doesn't hate pretending her yankee side never existed, she is somewhat ashamed, but it wasn't like she never had a good time. She misses Kenkawa and Maizono, but at the same time, things aren't the same when she speaks to them. She's nothing special anymore.

Aside from that, she's happy enough just to have a group of people to be around, and one friend to go to.

"Ayabe-kun, lunch?" she calls out to him, peeking her head from the doorway of his classroom.

Ayabe smiles and he meets her in the hallway. They ignore the jokes his classmates make about them dating, not denying or affirming any rumors. She doesn't mind anyway, any status is fine by her.

They eat lunch together everyday on the roof, and they talk about the Student Council. There isn't any holding back between them, no fear of Miyabi.

"Ayabe-kun makes the best food," Mafuyu says happily. "You really need to teach me how to make some of this stuff!"

The boy hums in reply, as they eat in a comfortable silence. She's happy with him, she doesn't need them to have a label on what they are to each other.

"Kurosaki," his voice sounds like music to her ears, "You're such a messy eater."

"Sorry," she says as he picks out a grain of rice from her hair. The distance between them has closed off, and she thinks about his long lashes and that beauty mark under his right eye. He's touching her cheek when he kisses her briefly on the mouth, and she freezes up, still holding the box of food.

He kisses her again, and she kisses him back.

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"So I hear you and Reito are an item now?" Miyabi smiles while he asks, glancing through various papers from the school's organizations, eyes not reaching her direction.

Mafuyu finds herself laughing nervously, "Who told you that?" She turns around and starts organizing some files, swallowing that out of place feeling of _fear_. It hasn't even been one week since they agreed to be romantically inclined, she thinks, frustrated.

"You know how I feel about secrets, Mafuyu." His voice is singsong, but she knows he's serious. She isn't left alone with him often, because honestly she avoids it on purpose, and she quickly finds herself wishing one of the Council's officers would come into the office at this very moment.

"What secret? There's no secret," she looks over her shoulder, and suddenly, Miyabi is so close to her, that their eyelashes nearly touch.

She yelps, surprised she didn't sense him, and drops several files.

"Liar," she feels a hand on the back of her head and another on her shoulder. The President's lips over hers, and she pushes him off, already across the room from him.

Her face feels hot and her head feels like it's going to explode, "Why?" She wants to wipe that smile off of the President's face, anger causing her hands to ball up into fists.

But she doesn't raise a hand, and that almost smug look remains, "Because, why not?"

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Why she's knocking on the door to his dorm room, she doesn't know. She wouldn't lie to Reito, but she doesn't want to hurt him, but she feels like what happened is eating away at her.

"Yeah?" his voice is muffled behind the door, and her nervousness spikes; she needs to come clean. Why? It wasn't even her fault. Why does she feel guilty?

"Ayabe-kun…!" She's shaking, fidgeting, anxious.

They know each other well, he sighs and pulls her into the room, all while making sure no passerby sees a girl enter a boy's dorm, especially not the dorm manager's room.

"What's wrong? What happened?" His hands were on either side of her shoulders, how concerned he is isn't relieving any of her stress.

She can't meet his eyes, and she bites her lip, "The President, Hanabusa-senpai, he found out about us, and kissed me."

"What?" Reito's face contorted, his tone was bordering furious. "What did you do after?"

"I ran off," she swept her hair off of her warm forehead, "I feel manipulated. I just, I just want to be happy, safe… I don't want to feel like he has rule over me because of who I was."

He pulls her close, consoling her, and she shuts her eyes. Kurosaki Mafuyu doesn't cry over things like this; Her sob rolls out of her like the breath being choked out of her body.

"But, I can't leave the council either," she gasps, "Because, if I do, he'll take what he knows and tell everyone— He'll ruin me, us."

He brushes her hair with his fingers, "I know."

Reito pulls back slightly, and tilts his head to kiss her gently. Her lips feel dry against his, and she is suffocating on her own saliva. She's so tired, but she feels better.

She wants to hate Miyabi, but she doesn't.

"We'll talk go talk to him later," he follows up before she could reply, "I know you don't want to be near him, but we have to."

Her head feels heavy, and so does her heart. Things were never supposed to turn out this way.

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They find a good time to catch Miyabi by himself, and it's not as soon as Mafuyu would have hoped to talk to him, but it's good enough.

Leaned against the top of the dark mahogany of his desk, Miyabi looks like he always does, beautiful, cruel, _beautifully cruel_. She has always found him dazzling, but not taken by the "charm" he presents to everyone. His leather seat is turned around, facing the other way though, as though he spent some time looking outside.

"Well? You two look good together."

"Don't fuck with me," Reito starts. "Just who are you to treat us like this? Treat Kurosaki like that?"

He loves to play dumb, smiling with a tilt of the head, "What do I treat you like, Mafuyu? Do I treat you badly? Do you feel like I do?"

She can't talk all of a sudden, all words lost on her. "I…"

"Do you hate the Student Council?"

Her throat feels tight. "I hate feeling trapped."

"Do you think I'm keeping you caged?"

"Yes," she squeezes her eyes shut.

"How will you get out of your cage, then?"

"I don't know! What do you want me to do?"

"Come here."

Reito holds her wrist, cautious and unsure, because he can't go against Miyabi either, and she knows that.

Pulling him along with her, she approaches the President slowly, until she is within arms distance from him. Reito's grip doesn't slack at all, reminding her of how tense her body must be.

"I love you both dearly," Miyabi's voice was low, his slender fingers touching the top of Reito's hand over her wrist, touching the two of them. "Even if I let you go, both of you, there's no guarantee of how safe you will be."

His words strike her, and Mafuyu grits her teeth, pulling away, "But I don't feel safe _here!_ "

Deep blue eyes don't falter for a second, and a smile does not let up at all either, "You don't know it, but you are. You'll learn, one day."

It must have been some sort of hypnotism when Miyabi holds the pair, whispering sweet nothings into both of their ears. His soft lips are so bitter, yet sweet, when she watches him kiss her lover's cheek, and then hers.

She steps backward from both of them.

Cicadas screech faintly in the background, and the sun comes through the windows clearing her vision. The light rests on the President's back, and his face is slightly shadowed over, so she has to leave understanding up to tone. Reito is looking at the older male, in a daze.

"Stay," sounds like neither a request nor a command.

She can't just leave, because she _can_ but she doesn't. A smile creeps on her face, and something takes her over.

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I don't really know how I feel about this as a whole quite yet. Thanks for reading, though.


End file.
